Big Blue Disk 18/bbd18new.zip/HISTORY.TXT

Text File | 1988-01-06 | 5KB | 75 lines

^C^1THE HISTORY OF SOFTDISK, INC.
^C(The Untold Story)

   As you may know, Softdisk, Inc., the publishers of BIG BLUE DISK, got its
start publishing Softdisk, the original Apple II disk magazine.  From there it
expanded to publish Loadstar for Commodore computers, and now BIG BLUE DISK
for the IBM PC.  However, many of you are unaware of the company's long, rich
history.  We are including this article for your information, and to clear up
misconceptions about Softdisk's role in history.

   Softdisk was founded in the year One Million B.C., by the caveman Jim Ugh.
He came up with the idea of producing a monthly (timed by the full moon)
publication contained entirely on a small, round rock.  It contained data
intended to be loaded into a computer.  Unfortunately, computers hadn't yet
been invented, so sales were not brisk.  Critics also pointed out that the
name "Softdisk" was not very appropriate, given the hardness of the rock
media.  (They demonstrated this by dropping an issue onto Jim's head; after
that, his new ideas became even crazier.)  Jim Ugh was unfazed by this
criticism, however, and continued to publish Softdisk.  To allow it to
continue beyond his lifetime, he passed on the editorship over the generations
to deserving people.  By an inflexible rule, heirs to the editorship had to be
named Jim.

   So, Softdisk continued throughout the millenia, attracting a small but
dedicated cult following anxiously awaiting the day when a machine would be
invented to run the monthly disk.  In the fifteenth century, Softdisk editor
Jim Gutenberg lamented the fact that all the monthly disks looked alike; he
wished to have some sort of printed labels to distinguish them.  His brother
Johannes heard him and invented movable type to satisfy this request.

   In the 1600's, editor Jim Newton was sitting under a tree with his cousin
Isaac, when they were both hit by falling apples.  This spurred Sir Isaac to
discover the laws of gravitation, but for Jim it brought about a decision:
From then on, Softdisk would be designed to run on Apple computers.  The fact
that, even after over a million years, computers still hadn't been invented,
didn't bother him.  (His other cousin, Fig, wasn't present since he was busy
inventing the cookie which bears his name.  If he had been there, perhaps he
would have included apples in his recipe.)

   By the nineteenth century, advancing technology made it seem like
Softdisk's time might finally come.  Editor Jim Babbage convinced his uncle
Charles to try to design a machine capable of running the monthly disk, but
his Analytical Engine was never satisfactorily completed.  In the 1920's, Jim
Watson, Sr. was offered a large block of shares in the newly-formed company,
IBM, but turned this down since Softdisk was "not IBM compatible."

   Finally, in the mid-1970's, editor Jim Wozniak got his step-brother Steve
to do the job of creating a computer to run Softdisk.  His first try, the
Apple I, didn't succeed at this task, but his second was a big success.

   Now that there was finally a machine to run Softdisk, the company started a
giant, no-holds-barred ad campaign to promote this publication.  This fell
flat on its face, however, due to the fact that the disk drive had yet to be
introduced, and no cassette version of Softdisk was available.

   Following this debacle, Softdisk was nearly broke, and was ultimately sold
in 1981 to Jim Mangham of Shreveport, LA at a bargain-basement price.  The
masters to all monthly issues from the past million-plus years were delivered
to his house, but were mistaken for garbage by the sanitation men and carted
away.  Hence, only issues from 1981 on are now available.

   From then on, things advanced relatively smoothly and conventionally,
bringing Softdisk to the esteemed status it now holds.  There were some
interesting events in recent years, too, but most of them are too confidential
to reveal here.  For instance, there's the matter of the covert arms shipment
we sent to Iran hidden in a box of dealer copies of BIG BLUE DISK.  These
issues were marked with a price in Iranian currency in addition to the U.S.
and Canadian prices, so that authorities would believe the shipment was on the
level.  Fortunately, the later investigation of this whole sordid affair
failed to implicate Softdisk, so our involvement is still secret.  Please
don't reveal this to anyone.

   Epilogue:  Well, I guess we eventually did go "IBM Compatible" after all.
However, Softdisk still continues to serve Apple users, edited by Jim Weiler.